A Boston College sports blog capturing the highs and lows of being a BC fan living 1,000 miles from Chestnut Hill.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Reject the Amaker rejection narrative

Predictably as soon as Harvard announced Amaker was returning, the media started writing that he rejected BC. To reject something you have to be offered. Did anyone consider that maybe BC had concerns about another Ivy success story floundering in the ACC? Or maybe Amaker's inability to win big at Michgan caused some doubt?

As readers know, I was never excited about Amaker. I don't see BC fans years from now talking about letting Amaker get away.

31 comments:

I think the idea that Amaker was a sure bet at BC was misguided for all of the reasons that ATL has mentioned.

But, if we hire someone like Mike Hopkins who has never coached a game in his life as HC and who has never coached a game in his life as an assistant, except when sitting next to Jim Beoheim, the only possible reason for doing that is that Amaker and numerous other candidates turned us down.

Hopkins might be great. I hope he is if he's the choice. But very rarely do big time assistants step immediately into a big time job in a power conference. The more typical route is to take over a mid-major, have success, and use that success to obtain a major coaching job. There's a reason for that route. Running a program is a skill and it takes time to develop. BC has no idea how Mike Hopkins would be at that skill. With Amaker and countless others, there is precedent that can be considered. With Mike Hopkins, there's the hope that maybe, just maybe, he's been running the Syracuse program for the past 5 years while Jimmy B plays golf.

ATL has suggested that Howland is there for the taking if BC is willing to commit the resources. He's a guy who's won everywhere (at three schools, two major ones), reached 3 consecutive final fours, and is responsible for building Pitt into what it is now. He's as close to a sure thing as BC could find. Amaker is not sure thing but would surely be an improvement --- and would leave BC with talent and, at the very least, a bubble team. He too would take some resources. Instead, it appears that BC would rather save the money and take the risk.

That is not a plan that has worked out well for the school. Maybe Mike Hopkins will be the exception.

If Kansas, one of the 5 premier jobs in college basketball can do it there's no shame in us doing it. If it turns out half as we'll for us as it did the Jayhawks we'll all be happy. Till BB gives us a reason not to, we should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Are you talking about when Kansas hired Roy Williams 25+ years ago? College basketball has gone through several generations since then. Notice that Kansas didn't take a similar route when it hired Bill Self.

Yes, what does it matter that it was 25 years ago, it was still Kansas. They could have gotten any but 3 or 4 HCs in the country, but still picked Roy. It's all about recruiting, if Bates thinks Hopkins is the best recruiter we can get then we have to role the dice that way IMO.

ATL's snobbery is ridiculous. Amaker's making close to what the next BC coach will make - possibly more.

ATL has NOTHING substantive to indicate that BC passed on Amaker. All he has is this warped view of the BC basketball coaching job. I can guarantee you this hire will be underwhelming. I have about as much info as ATL does, so I'm just as confident.

Putting too much faith in Bates b/c of the Addazzio hire is also foolish. Great year 1. Let's see how it's going in another 2-3 years before making a judgement on that one.

I bet Amaker could have had the job if he really wanted it. That is the only scenario under which he would have made sense as an option. His stock will never be higher in terms of making a move. Besides ours there are 2 other big jobs that he could have made a play for and didn't. So it seems to me he doesn't have the fire in the belly to take on this monumental rebuild at BC. You have to give him credit that he has enough integrity not to squeeze a bunch of $ out of us if his heart isn't in it.

Agree with 5 it is all about recruiting that is why Hopkins is the best choice. Hoib if you do not want Hopkins, who do you want? Howland was run out on a rail a UCLA for a reason. Hiring some guy with HC experience from a mid major has not been a winning formula either. We just went through that with Donahue, he had many years of HC experience. I think the Hopkins/Roy comparison holds weight because Roy was with Dean for almost as long and was very highly regarded as well. If the list of candidates is true i.e Schimdt, Skerry, then it is a no brainer. I would be okay with Howland but I do not think he is a candidate at this point. It is all about recruiting.

Look at what Alford did this year with basically the same team as Howland. That's why Howland was run out of town last year. And if Amaker was never considered he never would have had to release a statement saying he was dropping from the process. He may never have been offered the job but it's clear he was being considered. Face it, this BC job is not all that great at all.

I think it's pretty obvious Amaker wanted the job -- that's why there are so many stories about him being the frontrunner, b/c he wanted it out there. When it was clear he had to compete for it and maybe wasn't favorite , he bailed complaining about having to interview etc. Good riddance. We took a chance on a successful Ivy coach before. Didn't work.

I realize I'm not the best writer, but I don't know how you read what I wrote to say I don't want Hopkins. I brought up Roy Williams as an example of someone who had great success w/o HC experience at a place like Kansas no less. I think u have me and 5 confused. Kevin Ollie is a more recent example. No matter who you take it's a crap shoot, seeing as Onahue has fundamentally destroyed our program, but I don't think you have absolute rules when it comes to making the hire. Most important is recruiting ability. If BB thinks Hopkins is the man then I'm fine w/ him.

I would find it hard to believe that Hopkins couldn't floor coach - but then again some found it hard to believe that Donahue couldn't sell BC. Like Addazio it'll probably be a left field guy none of us expected - like Phil Martelli (I hope) of St Josephs.

Hoib - great point on Roy and Kevin Ollie. other names that come to mind include Mark Jackson and Doc Rivers. Johnny Dawkins was an assistant at Duke for 13 years and then took the Stanford job (not exactly a mid major) and has done a nice job there.

bringing in the right players, especially in college, is a lot more important than the scheme. look at Onahue - lauded as a great in game X's and O's guy but routinely got dominated b/c of the sub par players he recruited.

i'm confused as to how Amaker staying he's going to stay at Harvard somehow proves that the BC job is not good. can anyone explain? Amaker is angling for the Duke job in 5 years when Coach K retires, and needs to prove he can win in a major conference. he didn't do that at Michigan or Seton Hall. if BC offered, he would've taken it. i am fine with Bates exploring other options and not bending over backwards for the next big thing from the Ivies.

You mention Martelli, I'm a fan too. I haven't seen his name mentioned have you? I don't get all this mention of X's and O's. It's a pretty simple game, and all these guys know the strategies. I know I'm a broken record but far and away the most important part is recruiting. After that someone who can motivate and get the players conditioned are what matters.

This is why you don't pass on Calhoun. He actually wanted the job and would've sold out Conte next season and delivered a top 10 recruiting class. Spare me the sleaze crap. Every top coach in NCAA has some sleazy baggage. Recognize that men's hoops is a business, not a sport to be assessed next to tennis and sailing within AD's office. Passing on Calhoun and a young protege was the dumbest move possible. Now you see the alternatives -- the other guys willing to deal with a hockey rink and the Power gym. And the alternatives don't look pretty at present.

"I think it's pretty obvious Amaker wanted the job -- that's why there are so many stories about him being the frontrunner, b/c he wanted it out there. When it was clear he had to compete for it and maybe wasn't favorite , he bailed complaining about having to interview etc. Good riddance."

Kidding,right? He called all the writers and asked to have them get his name out there. Sure thing. Wow do we dream things up with no basis in reality.

I only said that Miz because Atl virtually guaranteed that Amaker would take the job if offered and that he wanted it. He didn't give any credence to that fact he may turn it down to stay at Harvard. And Amaker would have a better shot at the Duke job if he showed he could be successful in a major conference.

Hoib - I haven't seen anything on Martelli. In years past, he would never leave St. Joe's and turned down numerous major offers. Even though he's not an alum, he's extremely loyal to the school. But maybe after 19 years - he'd like to compete against the best and beef up his retirement. His 19 year record is impressive. I don't remember BC ever beating him. I doubt, however, Bates would be interested in a 59 year old coach.

I agree he seems to have beaten us allot. I remember in the NCAA and Troy's last game in the NIT. BB should know better than to hold his age against him. The guy who just took us to the frozen 4 again is 68. Just like Amaker BB would have to determine if Phil really wanted it. If so I think he could be a good choice ala Laranaga.

I see everyone fears Hopkins will use BC as a stepping stone to Syracuse once the legend retires. Nonsense.

That is an easy problem to fix with a super narrow, 2 year non-compete that applies only to Syracuse (and perhaps Providence), as BC's longest & closest geographic rival.

That kind non-compete is easily defensible to protect investments in overlapping recruiting/media/fan circles. Plus the conference frowns on lateral moves within the conference. The ACC would much prefer that Syracuse destabilize a team from the Big10/Big East, rather that a conference partner.

I have reread the piece on boston.com by the third string writer and keep wondering what it was the Amaker responded to. No where did it say that he said that he had been offered the job. For all we know he might have been asked about Shaunessy's column and responded by saying that he has thought about potential job offers and wanted no part of them. we don't know and a lower tier writer trying to appear like he's in the inner circle can imply lots of things without actually saying them. If the administration feels that a top ranked BB team is good for the university, they will try to do it. Otherwise.....

I just hope when this is over that we get a period similar to the Al, TOB stretch of 10 years where we just talk about games. We've really had an annual coaching carousel since TOB left. Another way of saying it would be my hope that BB has finished cleaning up coach Flip's huge mess.